Irrefutable

By: Manigault

Thank you Thank you for reading and to those who have replied. It's appreciated deeply.

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The stunned look on Lurie's face faded into anger once again as he turned his focus back onto Sara, saying with a snarl. "Grissom is on this boat. He's below and tied up a bit. I suggest you both put the guns away or you will never see him again."

"Your bluffing, Lurie." Sara felt certain that the man was lying to her in order to instill doubt into her mind, but then, she hadn't heard from Grissom. Was it possible that someone, maybe Lady Heather, could have driven Grissom here?

"He's lying, Sara," the stranger stated with such certainty that she felt compelled to trust him, even if it was her own desires that won out.

"You are lying Lurie and I suggest that you step down off that boat with your hands in the air where we can see them." Sara steadied her hands as she kept the gun trained on Lurie.

Instead of stepping off the boat, Lurie held up one of his hands and revealed a small gadget that was linked with his fingers. "I killed you once, Debbie, but you had to take another lover and throw it in my face. Your lover is on this boat and he's going to be blown to bits if you don't join us and have your friend here put his gun away."

Sara stared in horror at the transformation that had taken place as Lurie's madness took a new turn. She wondered if he had thought she was Debbie all along, simply using someone else's name and life. It was insane.

"I'm Sara, not Debbie," she said with a calmness she didn't feel, her heart racing as she heard the distant sound of sirens. If she could keep him talking then maybe he would give up when he realized there was no way out for him. "I've always been Sara Sidle and you know this is true, Lurie, don't you. You know that what you're doing is wrong and you realize that your self control has slipped."

Doubt warred with common sense inside his exhausted mind and he fought the urge to collapse on the deck and let them take him. He shook the fog from his mind and stared at Debbie. It was Debbie, he was certain of it. He had played her game and went along with the charade she was living as a CSI investigator realizing that Grissom had convinced her to play that role because he was in love with her also.

"You can stop this madness now, Lurie, by taking that thing off your hand." The stranger spoke and his words triggered something else inside Lurie which was not what either the stranger or Sara wanted to happen.

"Goodbye, Debbie."

With those words, Lurie pushed the button.

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"We're almost there," Brass spoke into his phone, informing Grissom of their progress to Lake Mead Marina. "There are several men that shoud be there right at this second."

Grissom heard Brass gasp and his own heart felt frozen with fear. "Jim? What is it?"

"Gil, honestly I don't know." Brass stared out of the window of his car as he sped along the road towards Lake Mead. A large flash of orange had ignited the sky as debris was flying in many directions. "There was an explosion."

Similar gasps had emitted from the other three men in the car as Warrick, Nick and Greg stared out their respective windows in dread of what the explosion implied.

"There was an explosion of some type," Brass finally managed to say to Grissom when he could claim his own voice. "Talk to Nick, I need to try to reach any officers on the scene." Brass handed the phone to the trembling hands of Nick who took it like it was a hot potato.

"Hi Griss," said Nick when he realized he had to say something.

"Nick."

When Grissom didn't say anything else, Nick struggled to think of the right words to assure him that Sara was going to be okay. "I'm sure Sara's fine, Griss, you know how smart she is."

"Smart enough to sneak out of our house and drive to meet a known killer." Grissom despised himself for muttering those words but he felt sickened to the core as images of Sara being on Lurie's boat when it exploded kept surfacing in his mind.

"It's not like she drove to LA with a dominatrix," said Nick in defense of his friend. Instantly he regretted his words as he heard Grissom's sharp intake of air. "Griss, I'm sorry, that was low."

"Your right, Nick, I made a mistake." Grissom didn't want to talk anymore and was thankful that his plane was landing. Catherine should be meeting him near the air strip and was going to drive him out to Lake Mead Marina where he had no idea what he would find.

"Here's Brass," Nick handed the phone back to Brass who was giving him a thunderous look.

"Gil, the officers said that it was a boat that exploded. Several witnesses saw a man standing on the boat while two people stood on the deck with guns pointed at him. When the boat exploded they lost track of what happened to the people with the guns. They haven't found them yet."

A sense of loss prevaded Grissom's senses as his mind went numb with dread. It had taken him so long to get his act together where Sara was concerned and they had slowly built a strong relationship that was everything he could have imagined. If he lost her now...

"Gil? You okay?" Brass said, when the silence was more than he could tolerate.

"No, Jim, I'm not." Grissom heard the hollowness in his own voice and wondered how he could form any words at all since his throat felt constricted. "Catherine's waiting for me. Call me back, Jim."

Grissom didn't add 'when you find Sara' and Brass winced at the emptiness in the other man's tone. He pulled the car into the closest spot he could find and found himself alone as the boys practically dove from the car and set off towards the dock. Standing alone for a long second, Brass studied the glowing scene around him and shook his head at the senselessness of it all.

He took a step towards the commotion when he thought he heard a faint cry from the region off to his left. Staring towards the lake he squinted into the distance and saw the slightest movement.

"Warrick! Nick!" Brass shouted in the direction the men had run off in but didn't wait for an answer as he started moving towards the lake's edge.

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Grissom moved like a ghost towards Catherine who was frowning at him as he approached.

"Get in, Gil, and you can tell me about it as I drive."

Once inside the car Grissom leaned his head back against the seat and squeezed his eyes shut, for once welcoming the pounding headache that had spilled over him.

"There was an explosion." Grissom said, not bothering to wait for Catherine's reaction as he added that he didn't want to talk.

The word 'explosion' led to all sorts of images in Catherine's mind and if the expression on Grissom's face was any indication if Sara was involved in this explosion, then his next words sealed it.

"She's gone, Cath,"

Pushing her foot on the accelerator, Catherine darted a quick look over at him. "You know this for certain?"

"She was there and the boat exploded."

Grissom jumped when he heard the loud slap of her fist on the steering wheel. Opening his eyes he risked a look at Catherine and found her glaring between him and the front windshield.

"It's not like you to be so negative, Gilbert Grissom. Get over it. Until we have searched that entire area for Sara then I don't want to hear about your ridiculous self pity. What's wrong with you? You have gone through too much to just quit on her and on yourself." Slapping the steering wheel again, she tried to control her anger.

"Are you done?" Grissom asked, closing his eyes again but this time recognizing the stirring of hope.

"Oh, I've only started," replied Catherine with another angry look cast in his direction.

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Greg dashed ahead of Warrick and Nick as he took in the chaotic scene with dismay. There was no sign of Sara. He did see a an officer leaning over a burly man as the man tried waving him away with a stern admonishment to search for the girl, Sara Sidle.

"Sara? You know Sara?" Greg slid to a stop in front of the stranger and glared at the man. "Are you the asshole who has done all of this to Sara?"

Rob Philmon stared at the wild eyed man who had jumped in front of the officer. He recognized him immediately from his vigel. "No, young man, my name's Rob Philmon and I'm a friend of Jim Brass. He hired me to watch over your friend and it looks as if I've failed."

"Failed? Where's Sara?" Greg said, sickness gripping his stomach in knots.

Warrick heard the exchange and asked quickly, "Where did you see Sara last? Was she on the boat?"

TBC